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General discussion

mp3 player agony

Jun 24, 2009 8:38PM PDT

Hi guys,

I am in need of your world advice.

I am looking for an mp3 player (anything BUT an iPod).

It must have the following specifics:

1. Be able to show me my mp3 player folders as I have them on my PC.

I will forgo hard drive size, size of mp3 player, even price, if it means I can have my pc setup for folders and albums, on my mp3 player.

Can you please tell me which mp3 players do this? I know iPod doesnt allow me this, and I have to edit id3 tag. I dont want to do any editing, drag and drop, plug and play would be great, and to have the exact same file structure.

Any ideas?

Discussion is locked

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Some misconceptions here
Jun 24, 2009 9:17PM PDT

The advice you've had so far seems to have been almost completely the opposite of the facts as I understand them.

The iPod does support folders -- in fact that's its next best feature after the display, not least because it actually saves you having to fuss with tagging.

What iPod doesn't allow you to do is simple drag and drop -- and iTunes, that you are forced to use instead, is one of the worst pieces of software I have encountered (certainly the version for the PC, which breaks basic Windows principals).

Look for an MP3 player which supports folders but also understand that drag and drop is by far the simplest way to manage and transfer your music files. There are other features to consider which apparently rule out the iPod as a choice -- memory expandable by SD card, user replaceable battery, sound quality, purchase cost.

Personally, I'd look at Sansa and Sony models -- not all their models do all of the above but they sound good and are good value.

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thanks!
Jun 24, 2009 9:26PM PDT

Hi fihart,

thank you very much for your speedy response and advice.

For the iPod I was talkign from my iPod photo experience, and I hated iTunes...so to have an mp3 player where I can just plug it in, find it on MyComputer then just drop folders, that would be great.

I asked about the Sony, and apparently although it does have the drag and drop feature, it doesnt list the folders as I have them on my PC. Also I had bad experience with Sony back when I used their MD Player and I had to convert all mp3s to their protocol.

I had had the iRiver reccomended as well as the Creative Zen as I also hear the archos has this functionality, but the problem there is that it is rather bulky and not ideal for walking, jogging, etc..There was also a south korean mp3 player I forgot its name, think it began with C...but im not sure..

can you reccomend for sure any of these that definetly have the drag and drop and folder view feature?

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C is for Cowon ?
Jun 25, 2009 3:19AM PDT

Well regarded for their sound, I believe.

I think you may be right about Sony's listing system -- but it's usable. They've dropped all that proprietary connection software and DRM nonsense.

I can't tell you much more -- my experience is limited to using cheapo chinese models before settling on an LG player which does drag and drop and folder support and sounds good, but is overpriced.

You might look at the site www.anythingbutipod.com which has forums on all leading brands of mp3 player plus forums devoted to buying advice.

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sony and various other mp3 player
Jul 4, 2009 7:33AM PDT

Sony, Samsung, and Cowon have the capability of looking at file types the way the computer organizes it. I used to have a Sony and the drag and drop worked really well. The capacity of all the players is rather limited though.

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Not entirely true
Jul 4, 2009 2:24PM PDT

Media files as stored on an iPod does NOT support the usual folder organization in the typical manner than a computer media app would do, specifically if you use iTunes as your media manager. From what I remember iTunes renames all of the files into some sort of coded gibberish. And the folders that iTunes stores the song files in are generic and specific to the way iTunes handles the data.

Fortunately there are a multitude of 3rd-party managing apps available that will work with iPods; at least if you use those a person stands a chance of making the filenames of the media files loaded on a given iPod somewhat coherent and recognizable.

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thanks
Jul 7, 2009 9:48AM PDT

guys, thank you all so much for your response and input...

so just to confirm, the following:

samsung

cowon

sony

iRiver (?)


all allow me to view my music in folder structure as i have them set up on my PC, and have drag drop function?

any of the above you reccomend in particular? a certain model or what not?

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So...?
Jul 12, 2009 12:45AM PDT

Guys you mentioned the Sony...

http://www.johnlewis.com/230649740/Product.aspx


can anyone confirm for me whether this has the folder structure as i have on my pc?

it says i can drag and drop, but something about media player??? so i can drag and drop but I need media player to do that??

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Sony models
Jul 12, 2009 5:42PM PDT

I don't own a Sony but an IT savvy friend chose one for his girlfriend. As I recall, it does drag and drop but the presentation of untagged tracks is less than ideal -- the folders are intact but labelled unknown. For more help, go to the Sony forums at www.anythingbutipod.com

I think I know what you're getting at in your quest for a player which stores tracks as per a PC -- but you will probably find that most don't do that exactly.

What matters (in my experience) is that you can preserve groups of tracks within a named folder so that albums are intact and playable. The iPod does this in practice (though it's underlying file system is a rats-nest as mentioned by one poster). Most other players will do this -- small variations probably don't matter -- or can be worked around.

The other issue is drag and drop. The iPod relies on proprietary software that deliberately and severely restricts the way you can use your music and your player. A few other players like some early Sonys and Philips took a similar approach but the makers seem to have realised that this just infuriates users.

Many players still offer the option of using Windows Media Player to organise tracks but most can also do drag and drop. Where a player also does movies, they tend to use proprietary systems to convert footage to standards which will work to the player's screen size/res. This complicates how things are described -- which may be what's happening in the John Lewis page.

Incidentally, the model shown in your John Lewis page is the latest most expensive Sony -- Argos have great sounding Sony models from about

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I just ordered the X1060
Jul 14, 2009 6:04PM PDT

Still in transit, so I don't know for sure if it stores files the same as on my A829 and A818. The interface IS different on the X-series from my earlier Walkmans, but the underlying system architecture at least appears to be quite similar from my time playing with an X1050 at the Sony store. From what I've read the X-series is suppose to maintain drag-n-drop capability.

The following is what my A829's file structure looks like through Windows File Explorer:

http://s853.photobucket.com/albums/ab94/make_or_break/?action=view&current=sonyA829.jpg

Note that I use MediaMonkey to manage my A829, and no longer use simple drag-n-drop through File Explorer. I suspect that MediaMonkey created the .alb file you see in the Back In Black folder (don't know for sure, since I never noticed it before).

Assuming that the X1060's file storage structure doesn't deviate from earlier Walkmans, it probably will look just like this. I'll try to remember to confirm when my own X1060 arrives.